To me "Web3" frequently feels more centralized than just the regular web.

I love that on the regular old internet I can stand up different websites, host them myself, and have anyone with a web connection be able to pull it up on their computer and see whatever it is I'm putting out there. There is some level of centralization if I want to buy a domain name or do other certain things, but it's pretty minimal and I feel mostly in control, at least for the kind of things I want to do.

That kind of standing up my own little server and running it myself while being accessible over the broader web feels decentralized. I can put whatever I want, you can put whatever you want, anyone can access it. Buying into some more distributed web3 type hosting feels more centralized at least in the way that I personally feel. I have to buy into a specific blockchain or platform, host in a specific way, hope that it gets picked up by other distributors, deal with hashing and immutability, etc. Maybe it's a difference in understanding of the word decentralized, or a different emphasis on certain parts of the definition.

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m463 a day ago | parent | next [-]

> There is some level of centralization if I want to buy a domain name or do other certain things, but it's pretty minimal and I feel mostly in control, at least for the kind of things I want to do.

This actually related to a fundamental lack of control.

Lots of tech we buy now promises "smart" but because you need to get to it from your phone, some corporation "needs" to "help" connect your device and your phone.

for example - you want a "smart" thermostat. To connect to it from anywhere from your phone to change the temperature, the thermostat contacts the mannufacturer. Then your phone has to talk to them as an intermediary to contact your thermostat.

Conveniently, they can collect data from your thermostat, or your house, or your phone, maintain a "customer relationship" or even charge you for the "service".

if things were properly decentralized, your phone could just contact your "smart" stuff and nobody else would need to be involved.

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DoctorOetker 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

As everyone knows, freedom is just a feeling.

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nonameiguess 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Not advocating for either, but I believe the term is intended to contrast with Web 2.0, which was services like YouTube and Facebook, that centralized content hosting and delivery away from people running their own web sites and putting it into corporate services that offered individual user profiles instead. Web 3.0 was intended to provide a similar level of convenience and not require all people to self-host in order to be producers as well as consumers, but without corporate entities having ultimate veto power over what can and can't be hosted and delivered.

The short version of that is it's not as decentralized as Web 1.0, what you describe, but it's not as centralized as Web 2.0.

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pixl97 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

>That kind of standing up my own little server and running it myself while being accessible over the broader web feels decentralized.

I mean that is how the internet used to work.

>I can put whatever I want.

Then I make a series of false reports and copyright claims and your ISP boots you.

>anyone can access it.

Anyone can DDOS it, forcing you behind a centralized system like cloudflare.

The internet has turned into a dark forest. Standing out and saying something controversial will ensure something shows up to eat you.

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atoav 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I run multiple websites since I have been roughly 14 and I never had any of those problems. I am not saying they could theoretically happen. What I am saying is that to most people running small websites they don't.

I don't use cloudflare because there was never a reason to. And if there was a DDOS I'd just wait. My websites are important to me, but I don't give a damn if they are down for some time. This isn't critical infrastructure.

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47282847 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have been running internet services on shared hosts, VPS, dedicated servers, colocated own hardware, since 1996, including larger projects that have their own Wikipedia entry etc, and have never needed to put anything behind cloudflare or other ddos protection layers. The providers I have worked with mostly passed on DMCA takedown requests without issues. The small internet is still fine.

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estimator7292 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No, it hasn't. The small web is quite healthy to this day. I haven't heard anyone who actually runs services like this complain about any of the problems you suggest.

Those problems only happen to large entities. There's simply nothing to gain from DDoSing frankshobbytrainsandflowers.com other than sheer malice, and then it only lasts for as long as you care to spend resources. Frank won't care and likely won't notice if his website is unreachable for any length of time.

Conflating the small web with enterprise problems is an extremely ignorant take.

Besides, the single biggest threat today is not some motivated attacker trying to deprive you of your three visitors a week, the threat is gigacorps exploiting the public commons with reckless abandon. The only thing small web admins are actually concerned about is LLM scrapers.

You should try actually talking to small web admins before spouting off nonsense like this.

	▲	pixl97 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		You should trying being a small web admin from around '95 to 2018 then. It was not rare for some random small site we were hosting, thats not infected with anything, to start getting flooded with 10mb+ of traffic for no apparent reason.

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GJim 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Whilst I disagree with what you have written, it is disappointing to see your genuine statements being downvoted.

Downvoting is meant for comments that detract from the discussion. Downvoting a comment simply because you disagree (and can't be arsed typing a rebuttal) leads to groupthink and unpopular ideas being hidden. This place is slowly turning into Reddit. And no, that isn't a cliché, it is a statement of fact.

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graemep 2 days ago | parent [-]

I agree somewhat with you, and it does happen, but in this case it is so alarmist it does not add anything to the discussion.

	▲	pixl97 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		I must be on a different internet for the last 30 years from other HN'ers. That or a lot of people say really boring things that won't matter if they are on the small web or consolidated web. It's the kind of things that get you kicked off the big providers that also make you targets to get blasted off the face of the internet.